Methow Valley

This weekend we took a super last minute trip out to north/central Washington to check in on one of Ryan's projects that is going up. The snow is just now clearing up in that part of the state, so the contractor has been able to start framing the house. We drove out there Saturday morning and met with the contractor on site for a while, then enjoyed a relaxing evening at a cute little inn on a river. Ben loves it out there and gets to run all over the place.

We drove through a ton of fruit trees in bloom on the way to/from Mazama. We even stopped at a cider stand which is the closest I've come to the cider mills of Michigan. You could actually watch them make the ciders...and they had donuts almost as good at the ones in Michigan!

The house that Ryan designed is on the side of the mountain, and this is the backyard of the house. How awesome is that?!

Lots of relaxing done by the river ;)

The drive was beautiful, I love this state!

Mt Baker Weekend!

This weekend we had a little fun in the sun...in the snow! We've had this weekend planned for a while and it was the first time the whole group was available for a weekend getaway for some snowboarding in Mt Baker. Turns out it was perfect timing. This has been a weird winter for snow in Washington. The mountains opened up super early in the fall with great snow, then the snow stopped and was terrible for a few months. The last couple of weeks, it has come back in full force for some great spring snowboarding! We rented a house with 3 other couples about 20 minutes from the ski resort. We got in late Friday night and Saturday started a little slow...the guys actually got up and made breakfast and headed to the mountain a little earlier. Myself and 2 of the other ladies headed to the mountain around noon for a lesson. One of the girls had never snowboarded before, so we wanted her to do a lesson and we joined in on it! It was a good refresher for myself and the other girl who had ridden before. After the lesson, Allison and I hit took a few runs with the guys before calling it a day. It started to get pretty wet out and the lifts were closing soon anyway.

 

Sunday we headed back to the mountain and Allison and I took another lesson...mostly because it was only $30 for the lesson with the lift ticket...which made it cheaper than just buying a lift ticket. Technically our lift ticket was just for the beginners lift, but no one was checking it anyway. We had a great lesson and joined the guys on a few other lifts/runs for the rest of the day. It was perfectly warm and sunny out on Sunday and the snow was great! I had such a blast and now I really want to go again soon! It had been too long since the last time I went, and I think Mt Baker is officially my favorite mountain in Washington now. There were some great runs!



Relaxing at the lodge

Me and Allison halfway up the mountain.







Stephenson Design Collective

If you have not heard yet, Ryan's firm has officially changed their name from Elemental Design to Stephenson Design Collective!! Ryan's brother, Aaron designed them a new logo, and they had a big open house at their office to celebrate the rebrand!

 

Along with their rebranding, and starting new things in the office, they also have big hopes for getting a 3D printer which would allow them to create massing models of designs to show clients a more tangible representation of their spaces. Unfortunately those are a little pricey upfront, so they're looking for a few donations from anyone who might want to help them get a head start in this next chapter of the company! Check out their donation page here.

Hawaiiiiiiiii

We just got back in town after a little fun in the sun!! Hawaii is a nice easy get away from Seattle, and there's so much of it to see, so we've been trying to hit up each of the islands. This time we went to Oahu! I was a little nervous about trying out this one because all I really knew about it was that there was the biggest city in Hawaii there. Usually when we go on these kind of vacations we try to steer clear of large groups of people. Luckily, turns out there's so many different areas of the island! We were actually staying about 30 minutes west of Honolulu on the south western corner of the Island at the Marriott resort there. The resort was fully equipped with a full selection of pools, spas, and it's own little lagoon beach right out front. Soooo it was perfect for us. We got in late Tuesday night. Wednesday we wandered around the resort grounds, enjoyed the pools and beach for a while, and did lots of relaxing.

One of the things we definitely wanted to do on this island was visit Pearl Harbor. It had a special meaning to me having spent several years in the Navy, but it was even more important to Ryan whose Grandfather was a survivor of Pearl Harbor. He was stationed on the USS California which was one of the ships that was destroyed. He was presumed dead for several weeks before they discovered that he was alive and had been working as a rescue diver pulling bodies out of the harbor. Although I never met him, it was amazing to be standing in the same place where he was a part of such a tragedy and survived. 

Since we we already near Honolulu for the Pearl Harbor outing, we continued on to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening there. We had to go check out Waikiki Beach so we walked the whole thing at sunset. It was quite beautiful, but it was sooooo busy. I can't imagine what it's like at the prime time of the day. It was fun to see it though and see the big city in the background and the mountains beyond that. It's a really neat contrast to it all.

After a day in the city, we decided to do a day of the complete opposite. We went towards the north shore and started out with a serious workout of a hike! I had found this hike on a website that said it was 4-5 miles. I was thinking it was 4-5 miles total…turns out it was like 5 miles up a mountain…then turn around and go 5 miles back down. Whew…what a workout! It was beautiful though with great views of the coast as we climbed, then great views of the valley from the top. Did I mention that it was a crazy workout?! I was pooped!

After the sweaty hike we cooled off on a few beaches on the North Shore and even caught a few surfers riding some pretty massive waves! The north shore is also awesome for the shrimp trucks and shave ice which we took full advantage of!

Saturday was another amazing relaxing day! We wandered around the beaches near our hotel and the nearby shoreline. Did a lot of reading and swimming and soaking up the sun! This is was vacations are made for. Luckily our resort grounds were super amazing with so many places to explore and lots of beverages to be consumed.

Sunday, our last day, we had a few last things we wanted to get in! First up, surfing! I'm not sure I'm going to be a pro at it anytime soon, but it was fun trying. There was a guy taking pics of us while we took a lesson, and I swear I got up and rode a few waves, but he didn't get so many pictures of that. Oh well, it was a lot of fun anyways!

After that, apparently I didn't learn my lesson the other day about how rough some of the hikes I looked  up really were. We decided to go on another hike up to the top of the crater. When I read it, it said it was a tramway that was a series of 1100 steps to take you to the top of the crater. I figured, how hard could it be to climb a few steps…we climbed to the top of the Columbia Tower (tallest building in Seattle) in just over 10 minutes! Turns out these steps were a little different. They were railroad ties that were a lot taller than a normal step and further apart…and it was soooo hot out. Also, I was a genius and decided it was a good idea to walk up in flip flops. It was a tough climb and towards the top we were dripping in sweat and I couldn't even keep my flip flops on, so I finished it off bare foot. Luckily, the views from the top, again, were amazing! We ended up on the top ridge of the crater with views of the coast and the city and surrounding mountains.

After all that we were exhausted and headed back to the resort for a sunset swim and dinner overlooking the beach and lots more relaxing before we had to get ready for an early flight the next morning.

We had such a great time and it's so fun to see what all the different islands offer. Next up, the Big Island, perhaps? In the mean time, we have several other trips in the works for the next few months. I love fun adventures with my handsome husband!